Fresh on the blog

Have you ever said something like this?

A: How was your weekend?
B: It was fine. I could enjoy a relaxing time.

Language is a major factor in what makes humans unique. We use language as a tool to explain how we see the world. But could language actually be what determines how we see the world around us?

Here is a question that you can bet will keep coming up for the next four years: What do you think about the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020?

Today I want to look at a very common question in the G.B.C. interview. It is surprising how many respondents, when asked about the place where they grew up, have very little to say.

This time, we're going to look at a hot potato* that has caused a lot of heated discussion in Japan.

The question we're going to deal with is: What do you think of the legalization of casinos in Japan?

Here is my sample answer:

What do you think is the biggest threat for the world in the near future? Here's a sample answer to that question.

This time, we're going to consider a G.B.C. question about you. As we have mentioned before, personal questions should, in theory, be the easiest to answer. However, because they are considered easy questions, it is important that you have a really good answer prepared.

This time, we are going to look at a question that naturally follows the issue of how the Japanese lifestyle has changed over the last 10 years, which was considered in a previous blog.

There is something a lot of people do when they are nervous while speaking. It's the statement that sounds like a question: when your intonation rises at the end of a sentence that is not a question. When we make a statement, it is supposed to stay straight. 

In this blog, we are going to look at a G.B.C. question that should be quite easy to answer. However, sometimes the easiest questions cause the most confusion when you are thinking about what to say.

In this first blog of the series, we are going to look at a question about which many of you may not have specialised knowledge or a strong opinion. However, with some basic information, a good structure and some sophisticated vocabulary, it is still possible to produce a very good answer.

Does the name Sara Blakely ring a bell (= sound familiar) with you?  What?  No? 

Yeah, it didn't for me either.

Why is advertising so annoying?

This month is my last month in Brazil. I will move to NZ with my family. We are leaving here on Tuesday. The day has arrived so fast!

Language and word choice can affect our mental patterns in interesting ways. I wonder how foreign words, as well as many others, affect our way of thinking in ways we might not realize.

Around the world, work weeks are vastly different.

Writing sentences is a good way to work on your English, and many of you do this already. However, it's not easy to check sentences through Skype, and you have no way to review easily.

Britain has voted to leave the European Union, a decision commonly called Brexit—a word made from combining "Britain" and "exit".  This will be big news for the foreseeable future, especially as markets adjust to the new situation.

Most non-native English speakers have trouble leading a conversation. Part of this is personality—some people are natural leaders, and other are not. But eventually everyone should be able to lead a conversation where they want to go. Learn the steps to do so.

Do you think you might say something like this: "My favourite menu is miso ramen." What about when you are busy. Would you say something like this? "I have a schedule at 2 p.m."